Weekly Microgrid News Roundup, August 29, 2016

In the basement of the gym at Illinois Institue of Technology is a “Nanogrid Inverter Room.” The nanogrid, part of the campus-wide microgrid, gives the gym its own solar power supply with a unique hybrid of alternating current and direct current. Typically, solar power is generated in DC and is then converted into AC for use, but because an increasing number of our everyday gadgets intrinsically rely on DC power, the IIT nanogrid supplies that power directly rather than inefficiently converting it to AC and then back to DC.

Southampton Town was one of 83 municipalities recently chosen for a $100,000 state grant to study the feasibility of creating a microgrid, and the study is now complete. A representative of one of the companies that did the study announced at a recent Town Board work session that they are now working on an application for a $1 million grant for the project’s design. If chosen, the town could then apply for a third grant, for another $7 million—which will be awarded only to approximately five municipalities statewide—to use toward implementation.

As of 2015, the Americas dominated the microgrid market with a market share of 43%. The market in this region was valued at $5.172 billion in 2015 and is expected to reach $10.457 billion by 2020, growing at a CAGR of 15%.